BPL 2022: Nurul Hasan among three from Fortune Barishal to test positive

Fortune Barishal wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, who did not play their opening game in BPL 2022 on Friday, was one of three people to test positive from the franchise in the lead-up to the opener.

However, BCB chief physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury has said Nurul must have been kept out from the game for reasons other than Covid-19, as he had recovered and returned two negative tests, including on the morning of the match.

According to the franchise, the other two members of the Barishal team to test positive in the lead-up to the tournament were batter Munim Shahriar and batting coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim.

Nurul will be tested again tomorrow. "We tested Nurul Hasan thrice," Chowdhury said. "He was positive in the first test, and then returned negative results in the next two tests. There's no problem from our side, so he must be missing the match due to some other reason."

Barishal are the first team to make public details of the positive Covid-19 cases in their squad.

There are, however, reports in sections of local media of six positive cases in the Khulna Tigers side, including that of Soumya Sarkar, and 12 positive cases overall among the BCB's employees over the last four or five days.

The BPL is being held in the middle of a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh, exacerbated by the Omicron variant. Confirmed cases crossed 10,000 on Thursday for the first time since August 2021, with positive cases growing to 29 times the number it was on January 1, 2022. The positivity rate in the country had reached 26%.